


To Teach an Angel Love

by Worldlyshuku



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angel Soulbonds, Angels, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Colors, Dean in Hell, Demons, Drama, Episode: s04e01 Lazarus Rising, Friendship/Love, Gen, Hell, M/M, POV Castiel, POV First Person, Platonic Soulmates, Romantic Soulmates, Soul Bond, Soulmates, Souls, Wordcount: Over 1.000, mostly canon compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-28
Updated: 2015-10-05
Packaged: 2018-04-23 20:38:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4891354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Worldlyshuku/pseuds/Worldlyshuku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yet another “meet your soulmate and see colors” AU with a slight twist.<br/>Angels were happy once, and then God made Humans.  Their word turned to shades of gray and what little emotions they had before were gone.  God said, "I made these so that you may watch over them and learn of my Love."  Those that could not follow God's words over time were lost to themselves, turning into Demons - hate, anger, and bloodlust the closest that they could get to feeling anything for brief moments.  But for those Angels that could find a better half, the world was beautiful and colorful again.  They would struggle with new emotions, some concerned that they were becoming too close to Demons, but if they could endure, they would earn the purest of joys unlike anything they'd ever felt before.<br/>When Castiel finds the soul that would teach him of love, he struggles to properly bond with an in-denial Dean.  He does everything this man wants, does everything for him, but why can't he get it through his thick skull that Cas needs his love?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Righteous Man

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I thought this particular type of Soulmate AU might work fairly canonically in Supernatural, would go along well with Castiel's devotion to Dean. I do not know how much/often I will update this story or how far it will go. Told in Castiel's point-of-view, most of it will be rehash of the show with his personal thoughts thrown in.
> 
> The road may be long, but I hope some of you stick around for the journey. These boys aren't going to make my job of getting them together easy, but I'm interested in seeing where this leads.
> 
> I will add more notes as characters (and relationships?) and situations appear. Rated Mature for now since while it's not _graphic_ depictions of violence, it's sort of there which is also why I "Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings". I'll change the archive warning and rating if necessary in a later chapter.

* * *

It was Dean Winchester, the Righteous Man, that changed my world.

My world was dull for millions of years. Black and white and gray. This was our Father's will. He created the Angels, spiritual beings to serve beside him. I am one such creature – Castiel, Angel of the Lord. In the Beginning, we had no free will, but we were happy and content to praise and worship our Father. For a time, all was well. Colors were abundant in His heavenly garden.

But then, Father changed the rules. He constructed the Earth and began the journey to shaping Humankind. He told us to watch over this place and the creatures that He had created. Father said, "I made these so that you may watch over them and learn of my Love." We didn't understand love, not truly. When our view of the Heavens and everything that our Father had created turned to shades of gray, we thought we were being punished, that we had angered Him. He simply repeated, “Watch and learn.”

So we watched. Billions of years passed, our want for vibrant color again never granted. We grew weary and anxious. Too much time was passing, and some Angels were starting to lose faith – they began to question our Father, and they wanted answers. Others stopped caring altogether, lost in their dreary world. Most, like myself, continued to wait, believing Father had a great vision for us and all would be well again.

As the earliest stage of man started to group together – large families and communities, protecting, providing, and sheltering one another – Father explained, “My Children, within these delicate beings, I have placed souls.  Each of you will find a soul that will return the beauty of the universe to you. Bond with them, and they will teach you, my Angels, how to love.”

After hearing of Father's plan, some angels rebelled. They were bitter that we should have to love another. Our Father was all we needed and wanted. But He wanted more for us.

Lucifer was the first to fall. He disguised himself and snuck into the Garden of Eden where the Lord placed the first of the civilized humans as you know them today. Even as the apple from the Tree of Wisdom that he gave to Eve turned to a brilliant color of red before his eyes, Lucifer denied her still. Father clipped Lucifer's wings and made him an example. Lucifer became the first of many more Demons to come.  To this day, I hear he can only catch glimpses of the color red.

And so our history went. Angels that would not seek guidance from these simple-minded beings were cast out, their color gone or severely limited. What little emotions they could feel turned to hate, anger, and bloodlust.  They wreaked  havoc from their Hell, twisting and maiming the  Earthly creatures made to educate us on love.

I became a warrior and battled with the demons. I tried to save as many humans as I could, always watching, always waiting. Angels were taking up human vessels to get closer to them, and then Jegudiel* understood. He was the first to find the soul that would show him love; he had said she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Her ebony hair and bronzed skin. Jegudiel held up flowers and told each of their color. A red, red rose. A golden daffodil. A violet daisy.

I listened, enraptured. Jegudiel explained that the moment he saw her, words of affection and devotion filled his senses, and he spoke them aloud to her. He had said she was so very confused, but he followed her and answered her prayers until one day, she revealed that she loved him. Jegudiel said that at that moment, he felt a powerful bond with her and that he felt complete. Nothing in the universe compared to the emotions of joy that he so desperately tried to convey to any angel that would listen.

It was the hope that many of us needed though.  And so we waited for the soul that would guide us, our other half.

It was o ver a thousand years later,  but  I  eventually did find mine. As ordered, I sought out my own human vessel in Jimmy Novak, and was down in the depths of Hell, fighting to free a man that had been deemed the Righteous Man, a descendant of Cain that could hold the holy grace of Michael as his true vessel.

At first, my eyes glossed over the emerald stripes cutting diagonally across the tie  of the latest demon that fell to my Angel Blade,  but then... then I knew. I saw. I stooped down and loosened the tie from the burned-out body, wrapping the fabric around my fist. It was green. If the other stripe s in the tie w ere any color other than black, I could not tell.

“It's green,” I whispered, unbelieving.

Uriel clasped his hand to my shoulder. “We must keep moving, Castiel.”

“Do you know what this means?” I asked him, holding out the tie. I pulled it back down to my chest and frowned. He would not see what I saw. “The soul that I was meant to find is here.”

Uriel blinked and shook his head. “There is no time for that. We must free the Righteous Man.”

“But, I-”

“Do you really think any soul found here in Hell could be capable of the love that our Father speaks of?” Uriel snapped, and he tugged the strip of fabric from my hand. “Come back on your own time, if you must. You will follow the orders given to you.”

I numbly nodded, understanding that the task at hand was of the utmost importance, but Father had given us directions long before to find our human half – not a vessel to be worn as needed, but an individual capable of meeting us on equal ground. And mine was here.

As we ran down corridors, cells filled with agonizing prisoners, I frantically looked at every one of them. Filthy and broken souls, screaming for death. Mine was here, suffering in their fate. I looked for more colors; I was in Hell – I didn't know what colors adorned the stone walls or the gruesome and twisted statues around every corner. The fires of the torches burned a hot white still. How far or even close could I be if green was the single color standing out in a world of gray?

I hesitated  in my search for the Righteous Man to touch the jade stone that was set into a glittering plate held by  a woman in tattered rags. Her tangled hair covered all of her face but her mouth; she seemed be trying to scream, but I assumed that the rope tightening around her throat was making that impossible “ I am sorry I cannot help you,” I told her, and I rushed off to catch up with the rest of my garrison.

The other angels were fighting with a pack of demons, their skins tanned and brown and cream. I nearly dropped to my knees then to weep as the wall gave way to a sea of endless chains, dark energy crackling in the brown and green haze. Uriel was shouting at me, telling me to save him, that they'd hold the demons at bay.

Then I saw him.

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Jegudiel – according to Wikipedia's “List of angels in theology” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_angels_in_theology), he is a Christian angel of responsibility and merciful love. Just looked up some names and used one.


	2. Raised from Perdition

* * *

Then I saw him.

The soul that my Father had said would love me was the same soul that I had come to rescue. He was awash with every color that my eyes could take in when I first laid eyes on him; it was magnificent.  As I blinked, I saw the deep red blood staining his gray shirt, his denim jeans torn to shreds around his bare feet, and the sweat glistening on his tanned skin. He was screaming for help, his arms, legs, and body bound by chains eating into his flesh.1

For a moment, I felt heartbroken. A despair and disappointment unlike anything I'd ever felt before. Why had I not looked for this soul sooner? Why had I not come to his aid before? He was suffering, and I could have been there to ease his pain or to avoid it altogether.

I drew my blade on the demon that came at me as I weaved through the tangle of angels, demons, and chains. I pushed the limp body aside as I neared the Righteous Man. His eyes met mine, full of terror and pleading, hazel eyes clouded with decades of anguish and torture. Words appeared to me. A promise. They began to repeat themselves over and over again. _Ol barinu micma elasa._ I moved forward and took hold of the chain hooked into his right wrist.

“This will be painful, but hopefully, you will not remember it,” I said in way of apology, hoping for his sake that my assumption held true.

“Please,” he begged quietly, blood filling his mouth and making him choke.

_A Amayo eol zomdv Congamphlgh adagita paracahe ol._

I pulled. Hard. The skin around his wrist stretched and bled anew, crimson liquid trailing down his arm until it soaked into the sleeve of his shirt. He groaned and tightened his jaw until the chain snapped apart; his arm fell limp at his side, part of the chain still hooked through his skin. His breathing was ragged, and I reached for the other chain holding his left arm. I repeated the process, listening with distress to the pained cries pouring from his bleeding lips.

The Righteous Man wheezed and cradled his arms to his chest. “Two down,” he said meekly, spitting red into the void around us.

_Elasa bolape en manada Saanir._

“There are four more,” I noted to him, wrapping my hand around the large hook caught through his shoulder. What sort of damage was this thing doing to his soul? “You'll have to endure the pain while I break the others.” He was bearing it far better than I had anticipated.

He gave a weak snort. “Sure hope I don't die in the next few minutes.”

_Ol dalagare adagita elasa en monnusa, en adana, en sapah siaion, od en vomsarg turbs._

I thought, _But you're already dead,_ but I was sure that he already knew that.  I broke the chain attached at the end of the hook as he scrunched his face and opened his mouth in a silent scream. He sagged against me, shaking and taking in shuddering breaths. “I will need you hold yourself up for these last ones,” I told him, avoiding outright touching him. My Grace, here in Hell, would surely burn him, and I was already causing him enough pain. When the time came to drag him back to Earth, I only wanted to have to do so once.

I could hear him hiss through his teeth as he pulled away and righted himself. The other chains broke with as much effort as it took to take care of the first ones, easy enough for my angelic strength, but hard on my... _heart_ to listen to him grunting and crying out in agony with each tug of the hooks buried deep into muscle and bone.

_Odo cicle adagita om zomdv aziazor, od ol surezodasa a aisaro iaiadix._

I cared not for the angels fighting off the waves of demons behind me, only for the soul before me. My only regard at the time was to free the Righteous Man, the soul that complimented my grace. It was everything, and nothing else mattered.

“It is time for you to go home,” I instructed him as I reached out to touch his shoulder, “the pain is almost over.”

He sucked in a breath and clenched his jaw; my hand gripped him harder as I drifted away from him – seemingly up, but the void had no direction. I scrambled to grip the fabric of his shirt with my other hand, dragging his Hell-laded soul back to Earth with me. His hands reached out to clutch the sleeve of my coat, but at some point his body went slack, and he appeared to have passed out.

_Oi bolape en sage ecarinu._

On Earth, I held his fluttering soul tightly to my chest as I looked up to behold the beauty of my Father's creation for the first time. Not nearly the vast Gardens in Heaven, but the sky peeking through the tall trees around was the most brilliant blue I had ever seen, the tops of the trees a vibrant green with the swaying leaves from the breeze, the long trunks different hues of brown . I didn't dare to close my eyes for fear of missing anything. As I walked forward, the green and yellowing grass crunched under my feet. I watched a tiny yellow and black bee buzzing from one pink flower to another.

“Dean Winchester is saved.” Uriel appeared beside me, taking in a deep breath. “Now let him return to his body.”

I sighed and gazed down at the colorful glow of Dean Winchester's soul. Dean. The Righteous Man. Vessel to our brother, Michael... _No._ In that moment, I hesitated to tell Uriel of my revelation. If Michael took hold of this man, when was Dean supposed to teach me of love? I needed to stall for awhile longer, to see Dean before he might be lost to me. I turned my head to Uriel. “You can report in to Heaven. I will ensure he is properly risen.”

Uriel nodded and vanished.

Dean's soul shone so brightly in my hands; I wanted to sit down and hold him forever if I could. I had not the luxury though. I kneeled down in the dull grass in front the small wooden cross that marked Dean Winchester's grave. Before I let him go, I bent down my head to touch it upon the swirling energy of Dean's essence, and I whispered the words that I had heard when our eyes met. My promise and my wish that I hoped he might one day fulfill.

“ _Ol barinu micma elasa. A Amayo eol zomdv Congamphlgh adagita paracahe ol. Elasa bolape en manada Saanir. Ol dalagare adagita elasa en monnusa, en_ _adana, en sapah siaion, od en vomsarg turbs._ _Odo cicle adagita_ _om zomdv aziazor,_ _od ol surezodasa a aisaro iaiadix. Oi bolape en_ _sage ecarinu._ ”2

I stretched my arms down and placed his soul on the lumpy grass, freeing his soul to the Earth. He seemed to hesitate, floating above the ground. “Go,” I said, “I will be here waiting for you.” His light disappeared beneath the surface, and I stood back up, turning in a small circle to look at the trees around me.

“ _Return at once, Castiel. We have much to discuss.”_ I heard Uriel's voice on the angel's frequency calling me back. I glanced down at the ground again the moment Dean's soul entered his buried corpse. The energy released from the union was immense, crashing through the earth and leveling the trees in every direction.

“I'm sorry I cannot be here to help you rise. I am needed at home,” I explained, knowing that he was not likely to hear me under all of that dirt. “I promise that I will come find you when I can.”

Parting was difficult. I returned to Heaven in a flash, but I immediately felt dizzy and had to lean my weight onto the table before me. Uriel gave me a brief look of concern, but I waved him off. So very far away from Dean, I realized my sight was losing its colors again. The dark brown desk became a muted tan. The painting on the wall that was splashed with a myriad of primary and secondary colors turned to pastels. The gold frame look dull and brown. It wasn't a complete loss, but no longer was the world bright and rich; everything was so much paler, and I had a hard time focusing until I could adjust.

Until our bond was complete, I feared I would never retain the colors that being near Dean had brought. I was going to be spending a lot of time with that man.

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) “His arms, legs, and body bound by chains eating into his flesh.” - I'm not sure in what state Castiel actually finds Dean, and I can't quite imagine... so I like to assume that after word spread of Angels raiding Hell to get to Dean, Alistair strapped Dean's ass up back into those chains like “you ain't going anywhere...”  
> (2) “Ol barinu micma elasa.[...]Oi bolape en sage ecarinu.” - Using an Enochian to English translator (http://www.sinleb.com/enochian/translation_index.php) which I'm not sure how accurate it is, I came up with a version of Castiel's bonding words to Dean in Enochian. I plan to reveal what I wanted them to actually mean later in the story, but if you want to put them into the translator... you can get a very rough idea that might not make a whole lot of sense. XD Some words (or combination of words) had multiple meanings and straight translation will give you one meaning, but not another, and other words just didn't exist.


End file.
